The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin ConductorJan Lisiecki Piano

J. Strauss, Jr. “Tales from the Vienna Woods” Waltz, Op. 325

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 I. Allegro moderato II. Andante con moto— III. Rondo: Vivace

Intermission

Beethoven/ String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 arr. Mahler (“Serioso”) I. Allegro con brio II. Allegretto ma non troppo— III. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso IV. Larghetto—Allegretto agitato First Philadelphia Orchestra performances

Gruber Charivari, an Austrian Journal for Orchestra First Philadelphia Orchestra performances

This program runs approximately 2 hours.

The January 13 concert is sponsored by theHassel Foundation.The January 16 concert is sponsored byCarole and Emilio Gravagno.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit WRTI.org to listen live or for more details.

23

Season 2015-2016Wednesday, January 13, at 8:00Friday, January 15, at 2:00Saturday, January 16, at 8:00

2 Story Title

The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording, with two celebrated CDs on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The

Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, The Philadelphia Orchestra today boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The ensemble annually performs at

Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Vail, Colorado.

The Philadelphia Orchestra serves as a catalyst for cultural activity across Philadelphia’s many communities, as it builds an offstage presence as strong as its onstage one. The Orchestra’s award-winning Collaborative Learning initiatives engage over 50,000 students, families, and community members through programs such as PlayINs, side-by-sides, PopUp concerts, free Neighborhood Concerts, School Concerts, and residency work in Philadelphia and abroad. The Orchestra’s musicians, in their own dedicated roles as teachers, coaches, and mentors, serve a key role in growing young musician talent and a love of classical music, nurturing and celebrating the wealth of musicianship in the Philadelphia region. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Jessica Griffin

24

6

Music DirectorMusic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has renewed his commitment to the ensemble through the 2021-22 season. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” Highlights of his fourth season include a year-long exploration of works that exemplify the famous Philadelphia Sound, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and other pieces premiered by the Orchestra; a Music of Vienna Festival; and the continuation of a commissioning project for principal players.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 2008 and artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. He also continues to enjoy a close relationship with the London Philharmonic, of which he was principal guest conductor. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and he has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with two CDs on that label; the second, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Daniil Trifonov, was released in August 2015. He continues fruitful recording relationships with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic and Choir for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are appointments as Companion of the Order of Canada and Officer of the National Order of Quebec, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, the Prix Denise-Pelletier, Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year, and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Westminster Choir College.To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor.

Chris Lee

25

SoloistTwenty-year-old Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki first performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail festival in 2013 and made his subscription debut with the ensemble in 2014; he also appeared with the Orchestra on its 2015 Tour of Europe. Recognised for his poetic and mature playing, he has received many prestigious awards, including the Leonard Bernstein Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2013 and the Young Artist of the Year Award from Deutsche Grammophon (DG) in 2011. In 2012 he was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada after being a National Youth Representative since 2008, and in 2013 he was named Gramophone Young Artist of the Year.

Mr. Lisiecki signed an exclusive recording agreement with DG at the age of 15. His debut CD on the prestigious label features Mozart’s Piano Concerto Nos. 20 and 21 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Christian Zacharias and was nominated for a Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year in 2013. His second DG album, released in April 2013, features Chopin’s Etudes. His third CD, with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano, is scheduled for release in 2016. Performance highlights of the current season include subscription debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony, a U.S. tour with the Toronto Symphony, a tour of Germany with the Warsaw Philharmonic, and a tour playing with and conducting the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Recent performance highlights include concerts with Claudio Abbado and the Mozart Orchestra, his subscription debut with the New York Philharmonic, and debuts with La Scala Philharmonic and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Mr. Lisiecki graduated from high school in 2011, at age 15, and began studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto. His performances have been broadcast on CBC Canada, BBC Radio, and throughout Europe. He was featured in the CBC Next! series as one of the most promising young artists in Canada, and in the 2009 Joe Schlesinger CBC National News documentary about his life: The Reluctant Prodigy.

DG

/ Mathias B

othor

Framing the ProgramThe Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week Music of Vienna festival takes off with one of the best-loved works by native-born “Waltz King” Johann Strauss Jr. The evocative introduction to “Tales from the Vienna Woods” ushers in a series of brilliant waltzes.

Like many great composers associated with the “City of Music,” Beethoven moved to Vienna as a young man and never left. We hear two works he composed in his mid-30s. The Fourth Piano Concerto opens magically, with a noble statement from the soloist. The unusual second movement has long been likened to the pianistic Orpheus pleading with the orchestral Furies for entry into the Underworld. A lively Rondo concludes the work.

In 1899 Gustav Mahler performed Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 95, with the Vienna Philharmonic. Like other eminent conductors, Mahler reveled in the chance to have the full string forces of a magnificent orchestra tackle the challenges of a chamber music masterpiece. Beethoven had remarked about this Quartet, which he titled “Serioso,” that it was “written for a small circle of connoisseurs and is never to be performed in public.” Mahler boldly took it out of the drawing room and into the concert hall.

The concert concludes with a work by another Viennese native, HK Gruber’s Charivari. The piece returns us to Johann Strauss Jr., as it is based on his Perpetuum mobile, a “perpetual motion” polka.

Parallel Events1805BeethovenPiano Concerto No. 4

1868J. Strauss, Jr.“Tales from the Vienna Woods” Waltz

1981GruberCharivari

MusicSpontiniLa vestaleLiteratureChateaubriandRenéArtTurnerShipwreckHistoryVictory at Trafalgar

MusicTchaikovskySymphony No. 1LiteratureAlcottLittle WomenArtDegasL’OrchestreHistoryPresident Johnson impeached

MusicAdamsHarmoniumLiteratureIrvingThe Hotel New HampshireArtOldenburgThe ButtonHistoryAmerican hostages in Iran freed

26

27

The Music“Tales from the Vienna Woods” Waltz

Johann Strauss, Jr.Born in Vienna, October 25, 1825Died there, June 3, 1899

When Johann Strauss Jr.’s stepdaughter asked Johannes Brahms for an autograph, the illustrious composer wrote out the opening measures of the “Blue Danube” Waltz and signed it “Alas, not by Johannes Brahms.” The incident suggests that the brilliance, appeal, and spirit of Strauss’s music could win the genuine admiration of one of the preeminent composers of the 19th century. It would be difficult to overstate the popularity and influence “The Waltz King” enjoyed as he virtually apotheosized the waltz into something more resembling a concept than a dance, in the process becoming the very personification of Vienna, as he remains to this day.

Continuing the Family Business The legendary Strauss dynasty began in the 1820s with Johann Strauss (1804-49), whose three sons—Johann Jr., Josef, and Eduard—perpetuated the family business. By mid-century Johann Jr. had formed Vienna’s foremost dance orchestra and expanded the franchise with prominent appearances abroad, including in Paris, London, Berlin, Boston, and New York. After composing hundreds of purely instrumental dance sets he started to write operettas of which his third, Die Fledermaus (The Bat), proved a smash hit in 1874.

Among the most beloved of Strauss’s waltzes is “Tales from the Vienna Woods” (Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald), written in 1868. The previous year he had composed his tribute to the “Blue Danube,” the majestic river that runs through the heart of the city. Now Strauss looked to the vast expanse of woods in the north-west foothills, where the Viennese for generations had loved to wander.

A Closer Look Like most of Strauss’s instrumental compositions, “Tales from the Vienna Woods” offers a succession of dances. Building on the formulas developed by his father and Joseph Lanner, another illustrious predecessor, Strauss used a similar structure for most of his mature pieces: an introduction that leads to five or six waltzes followed by a coda.

The introduction of “Vienna Woods” is one of Strauss’s longest and most evocative, setting the scene, quite literally, for what follows. Over sustained fifths in the horns, the solo

The “Tales from the Vienna Woods” Waltz was composed in 1868.

Leopold Stokowski was on the podium for the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of the “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” in December 1925. Eugene Ormandy led the most recent subscription performances, in December 1961, although the piece has been heard numerous times since then on other types of concerts.

The Philadelphians have recorded the Waltz six times: in 1926 and 1939 for RCA with Stokowski (the latter in the conductor’s arrangement); in 1947 and 1959 with Ormandy for CBS; and in 1969 and 1974 with Ormandy for RCA.

The score calls for two flutes (II doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets (I doubling E-flat clarinet), two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle), harp, zither, and strings.

Performance time is approximately 12 minutes.

oboe and then clarinet present a lilting start that quickly becomes more excited. After a solo cello passage and virtuoso flute cadenza, solo strings begin to play a Ländler dance. This intimate scene leads to a series of five waltzes (most with repeated sections) that forms the bulk of the piece. The intimate—and now rather nostalgic—solo string passage returns for the coda, capped by five loud chords.

—Christopher H. Gibbs

28

29

The MusicPiano Concerto No. 4

Ludwig van BeethovenBorn in Bonn, probably December 16, 1770Died in Vienna, March 26, 1827

Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto holds a special place in the unfolding of his career. It was the last of his five solo keyboard concertos that he wrote for his own use as a performer and even though it dates from his “heroic” middle period, it is an unusually intimate expression. Beethoven had composed his first three piano concertos relatively early in his career, during years of rising fame as a piano virtuoso and promising young composer. In these works he brought to a glorious culmination the Classical tradition of Mozart and Haydn, both of whom he knew personally. The Fourth and Fifth concertos represent Beethoven’s style at the height of his popular success and as he forged new paths toward musical Romanticism.

Struggles and Triumphs As he entered his 30s, Beethoven’s personal and professional life began to change, and so, too, did his music. In the fall of 1801 he revealed the secret of his hearing loss for the first time. He provided his childhood friend Franz Wegeler with a detailed account of his symptoms and lamented the constraints the condition placed on his social life and profession (“… if my enemies, of whom I have a fair number, were to hear about it, what would they say?”). The following fall he penned the remarkable “Heiligenstadt Testament,” an extended unsent letter to his brothers in which he described further social, personal, and professional consequences of his affliction: “… a little more and I would have ended my life. Only my art held me back. It seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me.”

The personal challenges Beethoven faced at this crucial juncture in his professional career can be sensed in much of the music he wrote over the next decade. While at first he kept his hearing problems hidden, by 1806 he could write in a sketch of one of his string quartets, “Let your deafness no longer be a secret—even in art.” Yet not every work offered impassioned struggles and affirmative victories. Unlike the bold openings of so many middle period compositions, the Fourth Piano Concerto has a quiet, meditative start. (In fact, the opening plays with the same rhythm—three shorts/long—best known in the Fifth Symphony.)

Beethoven first played the Fourth Concerto privately in March 1807 at the Vienna palace of his patron Prince Lobkowitz. Although he would continue to perform song accompaniments and chamber music on occasion for some years to come, his final appearance as a concerto soloist was playing the Fourth at a mammoth concert on December 22, 1808, which also included the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies and of the “Choral” Fantasy, Op. 80.

A Closer Look The unusual manner in which the Fourth Concerto opens (Allegro moderato)—with a reserved, resonant, and noble statement for the piano alone—seems particularly appropriate in regard to this final public appearance, but also marks something else. No previous concerto had begun quite this way, although Mozart’s in E-flat major, K. 271, is often mentioned as a precedent for giving opening prominence to the piano.

The brief second movement (Andante con moto) might be considered a lengthy introduction to the rondo finale. But as commentators already remarked in the 19th century, there seems to be something else going on. The alternation between the quiet statements of the soloist and the emphatic responses of the orchestra suggest a dialogue. As the encounter progresses, the piano’s eloquence and prominence increase, and the orchestra eventually gives way to the soloist. Beethoven left no hints of a hidden program in the sketches, the manuscript, or letters and other writings, but critics, beginning with A.B. Marx in the late 1850s, began to associate the movement with the story of Orpheus, pleading with the furies to permit him entrance to the Underworld so that he can retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice. More recently musicologist Owen Jander has examined various versions of the Orpheus story and has provocatively argued that the movement is “Beethoven’s most elaborate venture into the realm of program music. … It may well be the most totally programmatic piece of music—great art music—ever composed.”

The Concerto concludes with Beethoven’s preferred form, a Rondo (Vivace) that has a somewhat more assertive nature (trumpets and timpani appear for the first time in the Concerto), but that also further explores the work’s tender musical persona.

—Christopher H. Gibbs

Beethoven composed his Fourth Piano Concerto from 1805 to 1806.

The piece was first performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra in January 1905, with pianist Eugene d’Albert and Fritz Scheel. The most recent subscription performances were in October 2013, with pianist Yefim Bronfman and Semyon Bychkov.

The Orchestra has recorded the Concerto four times, all for CBS: in 1947 with Robert Casadesus and Eugene Ormandy; in 1955 and 1962 with Rudolf Serkin and Ormandy; and in 1966 with Eugene Istomin and Ormandy. A recording of the Fourth Concerto from 1938 with Josef Hofmann and Ormandy can also be found in The Philadelphia Orchestra: The Centennial Collection (Historic Broadcasts and Recordings from 1917-1998).

The composer scored the work for an orchestra of one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, in addition to the solo piano.

Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto runs approximately 35 minutes in performance.

30

31

The MusicString Quartet No. 11 (“Serioso”) (arranged by Gustav Mahler)

Ludwig van Beethoven

The conventional three phases of an artist’s career—analogous to the life stages of youth, maturity, and old age—are nowhere more evident than in Beethoven’s 16 string quartets. These extraordinary works chart the composer’s artistic and spiritual growth over the course of his mature life, from his late 20s to shortly before his death at age 56 in 1827. It is hardly surprising that many prominent conductors, past and present, have found it hard to resist employing the resources of a full string orchestra to take these masterpieces of chamber music out of their original intimate surroundings and into the concert hall.

From Home to Concert Hall This is what Gustav Mahler did in January 1899 with the Vienna Philharmonic. He remarked to a colleague that having all the orchestra’s strings play the four solo parts “naturally poses new and much more subtle technical and interpretation problems than the most difficult symphonies, but it will greatly benefit them and me, and it is the only way for me to get the very best out of them.”

Critics in Mahler’s time generally highly praised his abilities as a conductor. One area that aroused considerable controversy, however, was his “retouching” of symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and others. He augmented the size of the orchestra and added instruments in an attempt to make works sound as they might if the composer had written them in Mahler’s own time. In addition, he arranged two chamber works for string orchestra: Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet.

Mahler conducted his Beethoven Quartet arrangement just once, on a January 15, 1899, subscription concert at the Musikverein. At the time he was under considerable attack from the anti-Semitic quarters of the press and before the performance told Vienna’s most powerful critic, Eduard Hanslick: “Today I am fully prepared for a fight; you’ll see that all the Philistines will rise up as one man against this performance of the Quartet instead of being curious and pleased at hearing it like this for once.” The

audience and critical reaction was indeed mixed; Mahler never conducted the work again nor did he arrange Beethoven’s Op. 131 Quartet as he had hoped to do. (His Schubert arrangement dates from five years earlier.)

Beethoven’s Quartets Beethoven wrote the six quartets published in 1801 as Opus 18 during the first stage of his career, when he was still most under the influence of Mozart and of his teacher Haydn, the “father of the string quartet.” When Beethoven returned to the genre a half-dozen years later, he produced a set of three, the “Razumovsky” Quartets, Op. 59. According to one contemporary critic the set was “very long and very difficult.” With these pieces, the genre exited the genteel parlor where amateurs would spend evenings playing the great classical quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven, and began migrating to the concert hall. Professionals were now required.

By the time Beethoven wrote his middle quartets (1806-11), he was widely considered the greatest living composer. His next quartet, Op. 74 (1810), is known as the “Harp” because of the pizzicato effects in the first movement. The only quartet to which he gave a title himself is the one we hear today, Op. 95, the “Serioso.” It also dates from 1810, although it was not published until 1816, at which time Beethoven commented in a letter: “NB: The Quartet is written for a small circle of connoisseurs and is never to be performed in public.” Beethoven increasingly retreated from the world and turned inward for his remaining decade, during which he wrote his five late quartets (Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 135), the sole products of his final years.

A Closer Look In addition to Mahler, other celebrated conductors, such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini, and Leonard Bernstein, also performed Beethoven quartets with full string orchestra. Unlike the Technicolor arrangements of Bach’s organ music by Schoenberg, Respighi, and Stokowski, not much is involved with transferring quartets to string orchestra. Not a single note needs to be changed, although there may be some alterations of dynamic markings and other performing indications in the score, as well as decisions about whether (and where) to include double basses doubling the cellos.

The “Serioso” Quartet is one of Beethoven’s most compact. The first of its four movements (Allegro con brio) opens energetically and becomes increasingly intense—serious one might say. After a descending

32

33

pattern in the cellos, the Allegretto ma non troppo offers a lyrical contrast in a major key to its surrounding movements. A tonally jarring chord leads without break into the third movement (Allegro assai vivace ma serioso). The finale opens slowly (Larghetto espressivo) before changing from a minor to major key and quickening the tempo (Allegretto agitato).

—Christopher H. Gibbs

Beethoven composed his F-minor String Quartet in 1810. Gustav Mahler arranged the piece in 1899.

These are the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of the Mahler arrangement.

The score calls for strings alone.

Performance time is approximately 22 minutes.

The MusicCharivari

HK GruberBorn in Vienna, January 3, 1943Now living there

Born and long a resident in Vienna, Heinz Karl Gruber (always known by his initials) was an early postmodern transgressive. Soon after graduating from the music academy in his home city, he was extending his enthusiastic embrace to the whole Viennese tradition, including not only the great succession of composers from Haydn to Alban Berg, but also the rich sweep of folk songs, street ballads, waltzes, and operetta. For him, the search for new kinds of musical experience did not have to preclude charm or nostalgia, always subjected to equivocal satire or rascally irony. Having thoroughly established himself in Austria, he made his international breakthrough with Frankenstein!! (1978), a piece he wrote for himself as spooky narrator with symphony orchestra, creating an amalgam of nursery rhyme and black comedy, musical fancy dress and pumpkin light. His works since then have been mostly for larger forces, and mostly vivid and strange.

Strauss as a Starting Point Charivari is certainly no exception. It all began in 1979, when Gruber was asked at short notice to write a score for Austrian television “with fast tempos and an extravagant Viennese character.” His mind turned right away to the Perpetuum mobile polka by Johann Strauss Jr., and the job was done. That, however, was not the end of it. The Strauss motif kept coming back to him, “like a Mephistophelian debt collector.” It had got him out of a hole; it wanted more. When he realized it would not just go away, he gave in, and wrote the present piece in 1981. There was no commission, only the polka’s insistence, and no performance until 1983, when Simon Rattle, who had been responsible for the premiere of Frankenstein!!, suddenly needed something for a concert in London. That was when the piece gained its title, taken from a 19th-century Parisian satirical journal, and beyond that from a European practice of banging on pots and pans outside someone’s home, whether with good humor (to clangorously serenade the newly married) or bad (to pick on misfits).

In what he subtitles his “Austrian Journal,” Gruber interprets the polka motif as a symbol of the “officially ordained mask of being comfortable” that is his country’s

34

35

reaction to “even the most drastic turns of fate, and its complicity in some of them.” “The piece,” he goes on, “lasts about eleven minutes, during which time certain developments cause the mask to slip a little. Though carefully planned and perhaps inevitable, these developments may, owing to their unpleasant character, be perceived as something of a shock. Sure, but is there really any reason to be alarmed? The champagne is already flowing again, and a few drops of ‘Wiener Blut’ from the trumpets shortly before the end confirm that the status quo has been restored—even if the happy ending is not quite as confident as it seems, as if waiting for something else, just around the corner.”

A Closer Look Gruber begins by summoning the atmosphere of the Strauss polka, with the same fast duple rhythm, the same key (E-flat), much the same accompaniment, and very soon that nagging motif, hopping down in thirds: pom-pom-pom-pom. Other features return, not least a swaying line in dotted rhythm, but everything is a little out of joint, perhaps a little hysterical, and as the basic themes come swirling back, they are more or less radically transformed. At an early stage, the tuba—an instrument omitted from Strauss’s orchestration—narrows the intervals of the almost omnipresent motif; then the swaying line, instead of circling around, gets stuck in a narrow register. The tuba solo returns, and crisis follows upon crisis as the music becomes steadily more complicated in harmony, rhythm, and texture until, around the halfway mark, it starts to march before careering on into waltz time for a good while. Hardly has the polka rhythm been restored before, suddenly, there comes a freeze, on a low C-minor chord, with thundersheets. The mask has been torn off, or seen through. As Gruber indicated in his own comments, however, this is not the end, for the music rapidly regains its pulse and its vim, even if nothing can be quite straightforward any more. A point of exhaustion is reached, but the music recovers, if only for a postscript that brings everything to uncertain rest.

—Paul Griffiths

Program notes © 2016. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association and/or Paul Griffiths.

Charivari was composed in 1981.

These are the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of the work.

The score calls for two flutes (both doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns (III doubling I ad libitum, IV doubling II ad libitum), three trumpets (III doubling I ad libitum), two trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, crotales, cymbals, glockenspiels, large thunder sheet, side drums, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tubular bells, xylophone), harp, and strings.

Charivari runs approximately 11 minutes in performance.

Musical TermsGENERAL TERMSCadence: The conclusion to a phrase, movement, or piece based on a recognizable melodic formula, harmonic progression, or dissonance resolutionCadenza: A passage or section in a style of brilliant improvisation, usually inserted near the end of a movement or compositionChord: The simultaneous sounding of three or more tonesCoda: A concluding section or passage added in order to confirm the impression of finalityChromatic: Relating to tones foreign to a given key (scale) or chordDissonance: A combination of two or more tones requiring resolutionFantasia: A composition free in form and more or less fantastic in characterFantasy: See fantasiaHarmony: The combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressionsLändler: A dance similar to a slow waltzLegato: Smooth, even, without any break between notes

Meter: The symmetrical grouping of musical rhythmsOp.: Abbreviation for opus, a term used to indicate the chronological position of a composition within a composer’s output. Opus numbers are not always reliable because they are often applied in the order of publication rather than composition.Pizzicato: PluckedRondo: A form frequently used in symphonies and concertos for the final movement. It consists of a main section that alternates with a variety of contrasting sections (A-B-A-C-A etc.).Scale: The series of tones which form (a) any major or minor key or (b) the chromatic scale of successive semi-tonic stepsSonata form: The form in which the first movements (and sometimes others) of symphonies are usually cast. The sections are exposition, development, and recapitulation, the last sometimes followed by a coda. The exposition is the introduction of the musical ideas, which are then “developed.” In the recapitulation, the

exposition is repeated with modifications.Timbre: Tone color or tone qualityTonic: The keynote of a scale

THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo)Agitato: ExcitedAllegretto: A tempo between walking speed and fastAllegro: Bright, fastAndante: Walking speedCon brio: Vigorously, with fireCon moto: With motionLarghetto: A slow tempoModerato: A moderate tempo, neither fast nor slowSerioso: In a serious, grave, impressive styleVivace: Lively

TEMPO MODIFIERSAssai: MuchMa non troppo: But not too much

36

37

January The Philadelphia Orchestra

Hurry, before tickets disappear for this exciting season.Call 215.893.1999 or log on to www.philorch.org

PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning 1 hour before curtain.

Photo: Jessica Griffin

Enjoy the ultimate in flexibility with a Create-Your-Own 4-Concert Series today! Choose 3 or more concerts that fit your schedule and your tastes and receive exclusive subscriber benefits.

Choose from over 40 performances including:

Haydn and BrucknerJanuary 21 8 PM January 22 2 PMYannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor

Haydn Symphony No. 103 (“Drum Roll”) Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”)

A Farewell to ViennaJanuary 28 & 30 8 PM January 29 2 PMYannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Leif Ove Andsnes Piano

Webern Im Sommerwind Schumann Piano Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 2

The January 30 concert is sponsored by the Louis N. Cassett Foundation.

16 Story Title

Tickets & Patron ServicesWe want you to enjoy each and every concert experience you share with us. We would love to hear about your experience at the Orchestra and are happy to answer any questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via phone at 215.893.1999, in person in the lobby, or at patronserverices@philorch.org.Subscriber Services: 215.893.1955Patron Services: 215.893.1999Web Site: For information about The Philadelphia Orchestra and its upcoming concerts or events, please visit www.philorch.org.Individual Tickets: Don’t assume that your favorite concert is sold out. Subscriber turn-ins and other special promotions can make last-minute tickets available. Call us at 215.893.1999 and ask for assistance.Subscriptions: The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a variety of subscription options each season. These multi-concert packages feature the best available seats, ticket exchange privileges, discounts on individual tickets, and many other benefits. Learn more at www.philorch.org.Ticket Turn-In: Subscribers who cannot use their tickets are invited to donate them and receive a tax-deductible credit by calling 215.893.1999. Twenty-four-hour notice is appreciated, allowing other patrons the opportunity to purchase these tickets and guarantee tax-deductible credit. PreConcert Conversations: PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning one hour before the performance. Conversations are

free to ticket-holders, feature discussions of the season’s music and music-makers, and are supported in part by the Hirschberg-Goodfriend Fund established by Juliet J. Goodfriend Lost and Found: Please call 215.670.2321.Late Seating: Late seating breaks usually occur after the first piece on the program or at intermission in order to minimize disturbances to other audience members who have already begun listening to the music. If you arrive after the concert begins, you will be seated as quickly as possible by the usher staff.Accessible Seating: Accessible seating is available for every performance. Please call Patron Services at 215.893.1999 or visit www.philorch.org for more information.Assistive Listening: With the deposit of a current ID, hearing enhancement devices are available at no cost from the House Management Office. Headsets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.Large-Print Programs: Large-print programs for every subscription concert are available in the House Management Office in Commonwealth Plaza. Please ask an usher for assistance.Fire Notice: The exit indicated by a red light nearest your seat is the shortest route to the street. In the event of fire or other emergency, please do not run. Walk to that exit.No Smoking: All public space in the Kimmel Center is smoke-free.Cameras and Recorders: The taking of photographs or the recording of Philadelphia Orchestra concerts is strictly prohibited.

Phones and Paging Devices: All electronic devices—including cellular telephones, pagers, and wristwatch alarms—should be turned off while in the concert hall. Ticket Philadelphia StaffLinda Forlini, Vice PresidentCarrie Farina, Director, Patron

ServicesMichelle Harris, Director, Client

RelationsDan Ahearn, Jr., Box Office

ManagerGregory McCormick, Training

ManagerCatherine Pappas, Project

ManagerJayson Bucy, Patron Services

ManagerElysse Madonna, Program and

Web CoordinatorMichelle Messa, Assistant Box

Office ManagerTad Dynakowski, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficePatricia O’Connor, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeThomas Sharkey, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeJames Shelley, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeMike Walsh, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeElizabeth Jackson-

Murray, Priority Services Representative

Stacey Ferraro, Lead Patron Services Representative

Meaghan Gonser, Lead Patron Services Representative

Meg Hackney, Lead Patron Services Representative

Megan Chialastri, Patron Services Representative

Jared Gumbs, Patron Services Representative

Kristina Lang, Patron Services Representative

Brand-I Curtis McCloud, Patron Services Representative

Steven Wallace, Quality Assurance Analyst

38